Generally, pillows have an average lifespan of three years. Once three years have passed, you need to replace your old pillows with new ones; therefore, you might be wondering what you will do with your old pillows and other beddings such as blankets.
Will you just throw them away?
Luckily, there are many sustainable options for what you can do with your old pillows. You can get creative, and then recreate them into something more useful.
Another option is that you can donate these old pillows to these following places:
You can donate your old pillows and other beddings to your local animal shelters, and you can check first to your local homeless shelter if they do accept old pillow since they also consider the safety and environmental concerns. Make sure, before you donate your pillows, they must be well-cleaned and sorted.
Aside from donating your old pillows to animals and a homeless shelter, some charity or thrift stores accept used pillows. You may also send them off to your local communities or post a notice about giving old pillows free.
In this way, it feels like you are hitting two birds with one stone. Donating pillows and blankets helps you with decluttering your stuff, at the same time, you make someone happy or helping out your community.
Do Animal Shelters Take Old Pillows?
If you lack the creativity to think of repurposing your old pillows, worry not, since your local animal shelter takes them. These animal shelters are in great need of old pillows because they used them as bedding for animal crates.
You may make a call or send an email in advance to your chosen organization to check if they are accepting old pillows for donations so that you can set an appointment to drop off the bedding.
However, before you donate your old pillows to the animal shelters, make sure to consider these following things below:
- Wash pillows before you donate them
- Do not donate beddings that are damaged or with holes
- Do not donate beddings that are torn with the stuffing hanging out
- Cut up a large comforter into smaller ones so that more animals can benefit from your donation
Donating Old Pillows To Homeless Shelters
Make sure to call your local homeless shelter if they do accept pillow donations since there are most homeless shelters that do not accept old bedding due to safety, sanitary, and environmental concerns.
Just like when donating pillows to local animal shelters, make sure the pillows are clean, and they are still in good condition before sending them out.
You may call your chosen organization ahead of time to arrange possible drop-off time for your donation.
You may also consider donating old pillows to charity, local communities, or thrift stores. You can use your search engine to look for networks that accept old pillows.
As a rule of thumb, before you donate pillows, make sure to check they are really in good condition, they are free from stains, and most importantly, they are clean.
P.S: Do not be saddened if the stores or the organizations cannot accept your pillow donations. Since they are assuring for the safety of the animals and the people who will use your old pillows, you may need to check if they accept donations.
Does Goodwill Take Pillows?
Well, when it comes to donations, you always think of sending them to Goodwill.
But the question is: does Goodwill really accept such donations?
While Goodwill greatly appreciates every donation, there are some things that they do not accept donations due to legal, safety, and environmental issues.
Below are some of the donation items that Goodwill CANNOT accept: (You can check their site for a complete list of donation items that the store cannot accept):
- Items of furniture covered with animal hair, stained, broken, or have missing parts
- Large appliances such as washing and drying machines, stove, refrigerators, air conditioners
- Bed pillows, mattresses (!)
- Building and plumbing materials such as sinks, toilets, lumber, concrete, bricks
- Firearms and fireworks
- Any type of trash and hazardous materials
- Cosmetics and hair care products
As you can see Goodwill specifically mentions pillows and matteresses as items they don't accept. Moreover, most secondhand stores, due to sanitation and hygienic concerns, will not accept them.
Can You Put Pillows In The Recycling Bin?
Pillows are not recyclable, period. Therefore, you cannot put your old pillows in a recycling bin.
Instead, you can send them to the textile recycling facility if they are worn out or stained.
While these facilities are not popular, you can take your old pillows if you are running out of ideas on how to dispose of your old pillows. You may tap on your search engine to look for the nearest textile recycling facility and check if they are accepting pillows.
Here are some important things you must know when taking pillows to textile recycling facilities:
- These facilities used the fibers of your pillows to create rags, carpets, and other insulations.
- The pillows must be clean, meaning they are free from oil and grease. Pillows must be dry.
Another way to dispose of old pillows is to place the pillow stuffing in the compost bin. However, this only applies to natural filling materials such as down and feather.
You just need to remove first the pillow cover or casing since they cannot be put on the compost bin. Once you have accessed the fillings of your pillows, just simply place the down or feather filling to the compost bin and let the compost bin do its work by breaking down the fillings slowly.
What To Do With Old Memory Foam Pillows/Pregnancy Pillows
Unfortunately, memory foam pillows are made from synthetic polyurethane, a type of polymer of plastic, which is also used to make hoses.
This means that you cannot simply put it in the compost bin to degrade the filling materials. However, you should not be worried since you can still make use of your old memory foam pillows using a creative mind and some sewing skills.
If you have read from my previous blog post, I have listed there some tips on how to repurpose your old pillows.
So, you can apply this as well to your memory foam pillows. Just a quick recap, here are some ways on how to repurpose your pillows.
You can use your old pillows for packaging materials
Make use of your pad to fill the spaces, especially when you are moving out, and you are packing your things. This can prevent scratches and damage while in transit. These are good, especially for memory foam pillows, since they can be cut into small sizes.
You can create pet beds for your fur babies
To create a pet bed, you need to use around two to four pillows, and then you sew them together so that they are big enough to fit their body.
They can be used to create a kneeling cushion and floor pads
If you love doing some backyard works or gardening, it would be much enjoyable if you kneel on something comfortable. You can use your old memory foam pillows as an alternative instead of buying kneeling pads.
Another use of old memory foam pillows is that they can be used to make floor cushions, especially if you love watching movies while lying on the floor. Make sure they are long enough so that you can fit your body on the cushion.
Also read: What Are Receiving Blankets?
They can be used to revive lumpy, old toys
Your child's favorite stuff toy sometimes just flat out over time; therefore, to revive and give it a fluff, you may use your old pillow stuffing to fill the lumpy portion of the toy casing. Make sure to stuff the toy tightly and stitch it well if you opened it.
Keep reading: How Big Is 50 X 60 Blanket? [ANSWERED]
Takeaway
Old pillows can be disposed of in the following ways:
- Repurposing old pillows into something usable
- Putting natural stuffings such as feather and down to compost bin for natural degradation
- You can donate them to the following centers and facilities:
- Animal shelters
- Homeless shelters/charities/thrift store
- Local community networks
If you wish to donate your pillows, make sure that they are well-cleaned, they are in good condition, and they are free from stains and musty smell.
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay
Feruza is a mom and a blogger. She had a neck pain for 15 years, which made her interested in everything about pillows.
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